My Dear Little Redbreast
by essaysforbreakfast
Summary: She overcame the loss of her legs. She overcame the loss of her eye. She overcame the loss of her brother. And for centuries she is convinced that there is nothing left life could take from her. Until the birth of the third Fairy King changes everything.


**(A/N) **This is thin ice I'm walking on... I inserted a few headcanons about the Fairy Clan and Gerheade's character in here because the manga has yet to address these aspects. I hope nothing seems too out of left field. Enjoy!

* * *

When Gerheade sees his face for the first time, it is within the pond atop the Sacred Tree, on a day where the sunlight of a cloudless sky reflects on the water's surface to make it shimmer. The Sacred Tree called for Gerheade and the Fairy King in a matter of great importance, and the leaves have been spreading the message all morning. As she bows over the pond in its secured hollow amidst the Sacred Tree's mighty branches to catch a first glance at the next Fairy King, the canopy rustles with the glee of a proud parent presenting their first child.

His facial features are soft, framed by hair of burnt orange, like leaves on a golden day of fall. But his eyes are the most striking to her. She has seen the look of kindness and determination within these shards of ambers only once before. It has been so long since then…

"It's strange, looking at your successor like you're already being replaced by someone younger," Dahlia says with a shaky laugh as he examines the image reflecting in the pond's deep magenta water.

But Gerheade hardly hears him anymore. Her gaze is fixated on the face of the soon to be born third Fairy King, in desperate hope of maintaining the image for just a little longer, only for a gust of wind to ripple the water's surface and distort his face until it disappears.

~:~

By the time he opens his eyes for the first time, Dahlia has forgotten about the face he has been shown by the Sacred Tree. But Gerheade never has. And by the time he opens his eyes for the first time, on the first day of a long-lasting spring, she is already certain that he will be the next Fairy King.

All Fairies are born from plants within the Fairy Realm, but for the Sacred Tree itself to give life to a Fairy – it is an unprecedented occurrence. Not even the current or previous Fairy King can claim such an honor. Leaving Gerheade to believe that he has to be destined for the extraordinaire.

When he does at last open his eyes, the last remnants of doubt cease. His eyes are the same shade of amber she only needs to close her eye to see so clearly in front of her. He is the most beautiful little gift to her world she could have imagined. The admiration, the relief, the sorrow she feels is overwhelming, and a droplet of water steals its way past her eyelids before she can brush it away.

There is no need for parenting in the Fairy Clan. While they have yet to fully develop body and character when they sprout from a tree, every Fairy is already capable of surviving on their own under the protection of the Sacred Tree. The Forest itself is their parent. Only the name is not provided by the Forest, and therefore a Fairy either chooses their name themselves or is named by the first other Fairy they see.

Gerheade is the first living being his lovely amber eyes set upon when he opens them for the first time. But his name is just as foretold as the role he is destined to fulfill.

"Harlequin," she greets him softly.

He tilts his head to the unfamiliar sound of his own name and frowns as though he does not know what to make of the strange word.

Then he grants her the warmest smile she has seen in nearly two thousand years.

~:~

He is barely thirty years old when she tells him the truth, an insignificant lifespan by Fairy standards. The sunflowers bloom vibrantly that day.

Gerheade would have kept reality longer from him, but Dahlia has insisted for Harlequin to study under his guidance as soon as possible, robbing him of the blissful oblivion that he is a Fairy like everyone else. He does not yet fully comprehend the meaning of the words _You will be the next Fairy King_ and only looks at her with wide eyes when she cups his face to tell him. But the pain in her voice visibly upsets him.

From this day forward, he learns under Dahlia, follows him wherever he goes, tries to grasp the extent of the responsibilities a Fairy King has to his Clan. He starts to treat Dahlia with unconditional respect and admiration, despite the bitterness with which Dahlia looks at him from time to time. In his eyes, Harlequin is the clock ticking down his remaining time as Fairy King with brutal inevitability. For the sake of the Fairy Clan, he teaches him and bears his constant presence. But he does not love him.

~:~

Death and darkness are the only things to ever await a Fairy King.

Harlequin is less than two hundred years old when Dahlia falls to the former. A group of humans tries to destroy the southern borders of the Forest for its durable wood, and as Dahlia sets out to put an end to their undertaking, he is overwhelmed by their numbers alone. He eliminates the threat on his last breath.

On this day, Harlequin loses his mentor, the person he respects the most, and the open trust a child is allowed to have in the world.

He is too young when he becomes Fairy King. Gloxinia was bestowed the title of king in a time of crisis and war, and Dahlia was already an experienced Fairy when the Sacred Tree chose him after Gloxinia fell to the darkness. Harlequin is never granted a life outside of his title and the burden that comes with it. More than anything else, Gerheade wants to place a supportive hand on his shoulder the way she used to when he had been younger. Before his fate caught up to him.

But she is merely his advisor and has no right to treat him like a child in need of saving anymore. So when he is officially granted the title of Fairy King in front of the entirety of the Clan, all she can do is stand beside him and watch as realization turns his gaze clouded and lost. The cheers from the crowd are hesitant and ring of skepticism; the respect Dahlia used to evoke lingers too clearly in their minds when they look at the boy who has yet to grow his wings.

Death and darkness are the only things to ever await a Fairy King. And the thought tears her heart to shreds.

~:~

When Harlequin's sister is born, his responsibilities gain a personal weight. It is no longer a faceless crowd he has to serve and protect, now Elaine is the one who he cannot bear to disappoint, who he has to make sure will live a life without deprivation.

He cracks. Every day Gerheade sees the weight of responsibility take away more of his self, to the point where each smile he musters for the sake of his sister is a façade at the verge of fracturing. It is only a matter of time before he will break down, shatter like glass under the relentless pressure.

The self-defense mechanism Harlequin develops then is neglect. Over the years, he gives up the daily patrols around the Forest's borders Dahlia had taught him and reduces his duties to a minimum. He finds a friend in Helbram and pushes aside the responsibilities even further. The more he gives up his role as Fairy King, the more he is treated with familiarity by the other Fairies, and before long they play pretend that he is one of them. As long as there is no threat to defend against, they will accept Harlequin ignoring his duties. For the first time in a human's lifetime, Gerheade sees him smile again, the real smile she has missed so much. His joy is the reason for why she is unable to call him out on his actions, even though she knows she should.

His neglect comes to punish him later.

When Helbram is captured by humans, Harlequin blames himself and is determined to leave the Forest, his vision obscured by guilt and worry. Gerheade tries to stop him, tells him how much more valuable his life is as supposed to that of his friend, begs him to stay.

"I have to do this! This is what I was supposed to do all this time!" he shouts at her and pushes the hand meant to hold him aside to take off into the cloud-ridden sky.

She is too stunned to go after him. A decision she regrets every day for the next seven hundred years.

~:~

Harlequin does not return. A day turns into a month, a year, a century. All Gerheade knows for certain is that he is not dead, for otherwise the Forest would decay, or at the very least there would be a different face reflecting in the pond of the Sacred Tree. So she still holds out hope.

But with time, she becomes the only one. His name becomes a curse, and those Fairies that have not already forgotten him call him a traitor. Elaine calls him an idiot, then a failure, until she does not speak of him at all. Everything Gerheade says in his favor is met with disbelief and bitterness, and when she scolds Elaine for her hateful words, it only fuels her anger.

"He left all of this to me without thinking twice," Elaine says and moves her hands to include the Fairy King's Forest around them. "The Forest, our Clan were his responsibility. I never wanted any of this!"

"Neither did he," Gerheade says, but Elaine is too deeply entangled in her fury to listen.

Unlike her brother, Elaine takes on her duties without hesitance. Beyond her role as Guardian of the Fountain, she keeps the entire Forest safe and defends it against any human threat for centuries. For her kind yet fierce nature she is beloved by everyone. From time to time, when the sunflowers bloom or when the birds sing a song of days past, Gerheade sends out Oslo to search for Harlequin, but the Black Hound always returns alone without a trace that could lead to him. He is so far away, so distant. And with every fruitless return, she becomes number.

~:~

Until the Demon attacks.

Its fire burns down the Forest, destroys the great tree, and claims Elaine's life. Gerheade is left behind in the ruins of the world she once knew as home. When she tries to breathe, her lungs fill with ash and smoke and burnt memories. Despair climbs up her throat like sinister poison that erupts in a soundless outcry.

The ghost of her brother hasn't haunted her in years, but he is beside her now and whispers mocking words into her ears. About how she has been so naive to think that what she cherishes was meant to last. About how she dared to put all her faith onto someone who has been absent for centuries, onto a mere child who was never meant to live up to his title. Gloxinia's distorted laugh fills the emptiness around her, inside her, and the tears run down her cheek before they mingle with the ash of burnt plant life.

Tears for her brother, tears for Elaine, tears for Harlequin, until she is unable to give them as little as that.

She believes to truly have lost everything in her life, with nothing left to keep on going for. It does not matter that the human bandit plants the last seed of the Forest, it does not matter that the Fairy Clan can start anew under the leaves of this new tree, it does not matter that the human swears to return and bring Elaine back. The following years go by in a blur.

~:~

The day he returns is the most joyful day of her life.

When word spreads of Harlequin having been seen in the Forest with the human Ban, Gerheade wants nothing more than to rush to him and verify for herself that he is truly alive and well. But she has her own responsibilities to the Fairy Clan that outweigh her personal wishes, and she has long decided that Ban needs to be kept in custody to serve as a replacement for the Fountain of Youth. He represents the worst assets of the human race, greed and murderous intent, the same kind of men as those who killed Dahlia, the same kind of men who betrayed Stigma. Some Fairies may call him Fairy King, but Gerheade has been fooled before and will not repeat her mistakes.

Ban claims to resent the title unrightfully given to him just as much, but she continues with her actions, even goes as far as to risk the safety of Elaine's innocent, lifeless body. She is convinced it needs to be done for the Fairy Clan.

The Albion puts an end to her plans. Its shape towering over the canopy, ready to strike, ready to kill, awfully reminds her of the Holy War three thousand years ago. Of what she lost when Stigma was betrayed and destroyed from the inside. The screams of the past ring in her ears again, the smell of blood lingers in the air once more, and for a moment there is no feeling in her wings to call out to.

Harlequin stands alone against the overwhelming might of the Demon, determined to make up for his past failures. It is the image of hope she caresses and the nightmare she dreads. He will sacrifice himself if he has to, like Dahlia once did, she can see it in his eyes. The same shade of amber she only needs to close her eye to see so clearly.

Gerheade races towards him to drag him away from the battlefield, to get him to safety. He needs to live, not because of what would happen to the Forest or the Fairy Clan if he doesn't. But because she cannot bear to lose him. Ever again.

But he pushes her aside once more and steps up to the challenge, outgrows the image of a child she still has of him. Engulfed in a beacon of light he defeats the Albion.

The day he returns is the most fearful day of her life. Because he is dying in her arms.

Harlequin has taken too many hits from the Albion, has spent too much of his energy on his final strike against the enemy. His breath is irregular, and the heartbeat under her hands is fragile and faint. His consciousness has already slipped away, into depths her pleas cannot hope to reach him.

It is Ban who saves him, who gives his own blood containing the Fountain of Youth to heal Harlequin's wounds in an instant. When Harlequin opens his eyes, she feels nothing other than gratitude. Gratitude and regret for her harshness towards Ban, for the assumptions she made about his nature. Because without him Harlequin might be gone already, and for that she owes him everything.

As much as she tries to make him stay, Harlequin leaves as soon as he can, the words _Seven Deadly Sins _and _Diane_ his only explanation.

~:~

He is in love. It is apparent in every longing look he gives the Giant girl, in the way he follows her around wherever she goes, the way his eyes light up in her presence. When he speaks of her, warmth creeps into his cheeks and his voice brims with affection.

She finds it ironic. Ironic how Harlequin is just as easily captivated by the charms of an outsider as she was on the day Stigma fell. But every word of criticism in regards to his decision of heart will be wasted, that much Gerheade is certain. Instead she watches as Harlequin's smiles balance between loving and pained, for the girl he loves does not remember him.

~:~

Harlequin sets out to fight in the New Holy War, where he grows past her wildest expectations, beyond the man Gerheade saw in the depths of the pond all those years ago. Where he outclasses his predecessors to become the greatest Fairy King in history. There is no way to deny the pride she feels.

He is the one to tell her about her brother's sacrifice. "Without Gloxinia, I wouldn't be here today. He gave his life because he believed I would make for a great king. I think he believed it more than I did."

"I'm glad he had the chance to make up for his mistakes," Gerheade says earnestly.

"I never told you how sorry I am for what happened to you when Stigma fell," he says, genuine hurt in his eyes for what she lost. "For such a long time I was ignorant to believe you wouldn't need support because you never failed to support others. Especially me. I should have cared more." The last thing she wants is for him to trouble himself over her pain.

"That was centuries ago. It hardly matters now." The smile she gives him contains all the hope she is able to face the future with once more.

The sunbeams are warm against her skin and make his newly sprouted wings shimmer in every color of the rainbow. Below them, the Fairy King's Forest stretches towards the horizon, and the treetops rustle with the gentle sounds of home when a gust of wind brushes through them. The world smells of spring and gold Osmanthus.

Someday, she will truly be honest with him. Someday she will let him know how much he means to her and how much she loves him. And maybe, someday, she may have the courage to call him her son.


End file.
